Salman Khan verdict: black buck poaching case could face up to 6 years in jail

A Jodhpur court on Thursday convicted actor Salman Khan in a two-decades-old blackbuck poaching case for the killing of two of the endangered species. The four other co-accused – Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam – have been acquitted.

Salman was convicted under Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972

He is facing a jail term of one to six years

Salman has been held guilty of killing two blackbucks in Kankani village near Jodhpur in October 1998 during the shooting of the film ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain‘.

Actors Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam Kothari and a local resident, Dushyant Singh, are also among the accused in the case. They have been charged with inciting him to poach the two animals under section 9/51 read with 52 of the wildlife protection act and illegal assembly under section 149 of the Indian Penal Code. The punishment will be the same as that for poaching with a minimum jail term of one year and the maximum of six years.

Argument on quantum of punishment is on. Salman Khan’s counsels are praying for probation: NS Solanki, lawyer of Dushyant Singh who was co-accused in blackbuck poaching case #Jodhpurpic.twitter.com/2G5ahqHFWl